In July (2000)

A young, insecure teacher embarks on a journey through Europe to Turkey, where he wants to see a woman again whom he believes to be his fate.

Director:

Fatih Akin

Writer:

Fatih Akin

Stars:

Moritz Bleibtreu, Christiane Paul, Mehmet Kurtulus

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Daniel Bannier
Christiane Paul	...	Juli
Mehmet Kurtulus	...	Isa
Idil Üner	...	Melek
Jochen Nickel	...	Leo
Branka Katic	...	Luna
Birol Ünel	...	Kellner
Sandra Borgmann	...	Marion
Ernest Hausmann	...	Kodjo
Gábor Salinger	...	Marktverkäufer
Cem Akin	...	Türkischer Grenzbeamter
Fatih Akin	...	Rumänischer Grenzbeamter
Nina Lauterbach	...	Kira
Linda Wagener	...	Anette
Hans Daglioglu	...	Ernie

Storyline

Daniel is a young teacher in-spe, who in contrast to everyone else plans to stay in Hamburg for the summer. Juli, a girl at the flea-market, wants to get known to Daniel and manages to sell him a Mayan ring with a sun on it, foretelling him that he will meet a girl with a sun. One day later Daniel is already on his way across Europe. It seems the prophecy came true somehow.

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Plot Keywords:

rowboat | theft | border crossing | hitchhiker | cigarette smoking | 

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Taglines:

Im Ernst, im Spaß, im Juli.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Turkish Bulgarian Serbo-Croatian Romanian

Release Date:

24 August 2000 (Germany)

Also Known As:

In July

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

DEM5,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,245

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wüste Film, Filmförderung Hamburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally, Daniel and Juli were supposed to sing The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love", but the rights were too expensive. When the music supervisor was able to secure the rights for "Blue Moon" instead, the script was changed at the last minute to include a conversation on oldies.

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Goofs

The movie starts with a total solar eclipse on July 7. Some hints (German Marks; the war in Yugoslavia) show that the story took place between 1991 and 2001. However, there were no solar eclipses on July 7 after 1880. The only total solar eclipse in 1991-2001 happened on July 11 1991 and was only visible in Western Hemisphere.

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Quotes

Juli: You look like you could use some luck.
Daniel Bannier: A bag would do.
Juli: [holds out a ring] What's this?
Daniel Bannier: A sun.
Juli: What's a sun.
Daniel Bannier: It's a ball of gas which the Earth and 8 other planets revolve around.
Juli: The sun lights up life: for me, for her, and for you. Another word for light is?
Daniel Bannier: Energy?
Juli: It's good luck.
Daniel Bannier: I see. The ring is a lucky charm.
[...]

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Connections

References It Happened One Night (1934)

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Soundtracks

Velocidad
Written by Daniel Puente Encina (as Puente)/Menck/Jankowski/Bartel
Performed by Niños con Bombas

User Reviews

A Miracle: A romantic comedy from Germany that works!!

It's almost a miracle: This German film tries to seduce its viewers, and it succeeds! It tells the rather simple story of a young, intelligent man (Moritz Bleibtreu) who doesn't realize that the woman of his dreams (a dread-locked Christiane Paul) is right next to him. Instead he takes on an odyssey from Hamburg, Germany, to Istanbul, Turkey, crossing foreign and often enough hostile grounds (Bavaria, Austria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria) to get there in time. Right from the beginning the film feels trustworthy - and it gets better all the time. The film is funny, romantic, yet always on the brink of being melodramatic with a glimpse of tragedy here and there. It's an irresistible combination that Germans almost never achieve. (And maybe they wouldn't have done it even with this script - director Fatih Akin is from Turkey!) Bleibtreu, who had a wonderful bit-part as a dumb, tarantinesque killer in "Knockin' on Heaven's door" is very appealing here, but it is the tall and beautiful Christiane Paul (from "Das Leben ist eine Baustelle"/Life is under construction), who delivers the emotional knockout punches. She's plain and simple gorgeous, a revelation to those of haven't had the pleasure of seeing her so far.